- Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global founder & CEO Leon Li has stepped down as a shareholder.
- The company is now being acquired by investment firm About Capital’s M&A Fund.
- The founder’s reluctance to leave China, police investigations, and unsustainable business, are the reasons behind the selling.
Hong Kong-based top 10 cryptocurrency exchange platform by trading volume, Huobi Global is getting acquired by the investment company About Capital after Founder Leon Li decides to step down. The Founder and CEO shared on social media that he was resigning from his role as a shareholder and will have no say in any aspects of the business.
Huobi Global announced About Capital Management’s M&A Fund will be taking over the crypto exchange via a blog post. The post mentioned that upon closing the deal, About will “control the majority stake,” however, the ownership transfer will not affect the trading operations.
Speculations and reports suggest that Li has already been in search of a buyer for Huobi for months. He reportedly was ready to offer approximately 60% stake in Huobi for at least $1 billion. Nevertheless, the details of the deal between Huobi and About are yet to be made public.
The blog post announcement further noted that through this new ownership, Huobi is planning to expand internationally and will acquire an “injection of sufficient capital in margin and risk provision fund.”
Commenting on the acquisition, Leon said, “Following Huobi’s exit from the Chinese mainland market in 2021, we have accelerated our globalization push amidst a challenging market environment. We believe the successful acquisition by About Capital vehicle will contribute to Huobi’s global expansion.”
According to sources, a major reason behind Leon’s exit from the company is due to his reluctance to leave China, police investigations in 2020 including rumours of senior execs being arrested, and unsustainable business in 2022.
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